The Australian All Schools Championships are a celebration of everything that makes our sport special — the talent, the heart, the courage, and the moments in between. From breakthrough performances to hard-learned lessons, from soaring jumps to ambitious race plans, this meet captures the full spectrum of junior athletics. It’s not just about the champions crowned, but the stories written across every lane, runway and pit.

Sienna Vassella: Continuing a Family Legacy

Among the many emerging talents at this year’s meet, Sienna Vassella added a special note to the championships, continuing a family connection to Australian athletics that spans generations.

Sienna is the daughter of Jane Vassella (née Jamieson) — Commonwealth Games gold and silver medallist in the heptathlon and a two-time Olympian, renowned for her grit, range, and longevity in elite sport.

Sienna’s late grandfather, Peter Vassella, was an Olympic finalist in the 400m at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, part of an era that helped shape Australia’s sprinting identity.
Across two generations, the Vassella family has stood on some of the sport’s biggest stages, and now Sienna adds her own chapter, showing that the family tradition of excellence is very much alive in the national school arena.

Sienna won the U15 100m/Long Jump double in 12.16s/5.63m, had a pair of silvers in the 200m/4x100m with 24.46s/48.09s and was fifth in the shot put in 11.41m.

A Meet That Celebrates Far More Than Winners

Australian All Schools has always been more than a medal chase.
It is a national coming-together — a celebration of the sport, of courage, of learning, of joy, and of the unforgettable moments that shape an athlete long after the results fade.

Below are some of the moments that define the true spirit of this championship:

From chasing PBs

The purest joy in athletics: setting a personal best.
Faces lighting up, teammates celebrating, coaches quietly pumping a fist — this meet is built on breakthroughs.

To keeping grounded and jumping

A huge weekend for Callum Martin, who pulled off a rare Steeplechase + Walk double at Australian All Schools — and smashed the walk record by an incredible 1 minute and 3 seconds.

To when things don’t go as planned

A clipped hurdle. A stumble. A tumble.
And then — the moment that matters most — getting up, finishing, and learning.
All Schools is where resilience forms.

To the overly ambitious run for home

Sometimes the dream takes over the race plan.
A 40-metre lead after a 58 second first lap in the U16 1500m?
Crowds gasped, teammates yelled, coaches winced.
But these are the moments athletes remember forever — the bold moves, the brave mistakes, the lessons that last.

To chasing a medal from the “slower heat”

When medal hopes hang on the clock rather than head-to-head racing, the pressure is different — quieter, internal, relentless.
Athletes in the earlier heats ran with guts, hunting a time that might survive the championship’s mathematics.

To stretching out

The flight phase where time hangs still.
Sand, sunlight, and a perfect freeze-frame of ambition.

To seizing the moment

Athletes finding a spark on the big stage — a clean throw, a confident yell, a white flag, and suddenly they’re in the mix.

To leading into the straight

That moment when the stagger unwinds and the lactic starts to kick in — the point where courage becomes the only currency.

To striving to the line

The universal truth of All Schools:
Everyone sprints by the end — whether for a medal, a place, a PB, or pride.

To being perfectly in sync

A rare, beautiful piece of symmetry — two athletes landing in the same beat of athletic poetry.

Australian All Schools: A Portrait of the Sport We Love

Not just champions.
Not just medals.
But moments — small, brilliant, unforgettable — that show why this meet remains the heartbeat of junior athletics in Australia.